"There are three types of artists," my father once told me, "the exceptional, the mediocre, and the monsters."A short story selected amongst the 50 winning stories in the Simon & Schuster contest hosted by TheProse.com

Well, well, well. You finally caved. Look who's laughing now. Harlequin will add another crow to his murder for you.

Don't forget to feed the crows. They bite. Or peck, rather.

Cover art by Sandra Tobrand.

The Lupine Curse is the first doorway that I've unlocked into Netherway, the third novel I've written, but the first I considered worthy of an audience.

With an eye trained on Fenris, an unlucky denizen of Crowshead, I endeavored to illustrate various motifs of human nature, specifically those encapsulating the blossoming of consciousness, wisdom, contentment and growth through immense tragedy or pain.

Life is difficult enough for the impoverished in the Moonlands. Freshly designated as doomed by a rare affliction, Fenris seeks understanding, meaning, and peace, after all the pieces of his old life fade entirely.

Running from cultists, allying yourself with a traveling highborn, and getting glimpses of higher magick is enough to make any day more interesting, but for Fenris, it does little to solve his incurable ailment. Is he buying himself time by surviving, or wasting it? More importantly, can he retain his sanity while he loses all sense of himself?